Schools say community help needed in sex education

Published: Sunday, November 01, 2009

SARAH NIGHTINGALE

Six Lubbock teenage girls, on average, became pregnant each week last year, giving the county the fourth-highest pregnancy rate among the most populated counties in Texas - but down from second highest in 2007.

Local school districts following the sex education policy set with state regulators and the local community said parents, families and the whole community need to do more to bring the rate down.

"We can't do it by ourselves," said Lynn Haley, lead health teacher at the Lubbock Independent School District. "We have (the students) for one or one-and-a-half hours (per class), and then they go home and into the community."

Lubbock County sees more teen pregnancies than the Texas average in a state that ranks third in the nation for teen births.

More than 300 Lubbock County adolescents became pregnant in 2008, up from 214 in 2005, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.

Last year's adolescent pregnancy rate of 38 per 1,000 teens was higher than the state rate of 27 per 1,000 - making the county fourth for teen pregnancies among Texas counties with more than 5,000 girls ages 13 to 17.

The county also recorded chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis cases higher than the state average.

The numbers have drawn criticism about the way schools teach young people about sex: an abstinence-based approach created more than a decade ago.

More than half of Texas high school students have had sex, according to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

The American Medical Association adopted a study in June showing abstinence-only programs resulted in no delay of initiating of sexual activity, no reduction of the number of partners and no increase in abstinence.

But some local students may stop receiving even abstinence-based education from teachers. The state earlier this year dropped health education as a requirement under the curriculum almost 80 percent of Texas students follow to graduate.

That rekindled the debate about who is responsible for teaching Texas' teens about sex, as well as other health-related topics.

In the classroom

Lubbock, Roosevelt and Lubbock-Cooper school district officials said this week they would still require a high school health class for graduation.

"We feel like it's a priority for our kids," said Angie Inklebarger, Lubbock-Cooper High School principal.

The high school textbook "Glencoe Health" lists pregnancy, birth and sexually transmitted diseases as chapter topics, but it doesn't contain the words "condom," "birth control" or "contraception."

The book - one of five approved by the Texas State Board of Education - adheres closely to the state's requirement that sex education take an abstinence-focused approach toward preventing STDs and pregnancies.

To supplement state guidelines, state-mandated Student Health Advisory Committees - made up of parents, community members and district employees - work together with school boards to add to the state curriculum, said DeEtta Colbertson, spokeswoman for the State Board of Education.

"The committees ensure the local community values are included in the health education curriculum," she said.

Steve Burleson, assistant superintendent for the Frenship ISD, said administration will recommend to the district's school board next month making the course an elective.

"Our students are dealing with other requirements, like the new four-by-four (science and math) graduation requirements," said Burleson, who said administration ranked other subjects as more important than health. "We want to give them the flexibility so they can still take the electives they want to take."

Teachers answer questions about birth control, but he would not support a curriculum that required teaching it, he said.

"The only true way not to get pregnant or a sexually transmitted disease is abstinence," he said. "Mishaps happen and if I teach the students about (contraceptives) and then something happens, they could come back and say 'my teacher taught me that'."

Other local school districts echoed the abstinence focus.

All said their curriculum represented state mandates, their advisory committee's wishes and West Texas' conservative values.

"We do not go into the details about contraception, but let students know there are community resources available to assist them, and we answer the questions they have," said Lisa Leach, Roosevelt ISD superintendent.

The district promotes the benefits of avoiding sex to prevent pregnancy and STDs, as well as to preserve students' emotional well-being and long-term goals, Leach said.

"I don't think our kids are getting pregnant because they don't know about contraceptives, but because they are making short-sighted choices," she said.

Lubbock ISD's Haley said her district added in recent years a discussion about contraceptives and a presentation from local medical students.

Students at Lubbock-Cooper High School are also taught about contraceptives, such as condoms and the birth-control pill.

"We do go through the different types of birth control," said Joe Sexton, a health teacher. "But we tell them over and over the safest, most effective way is abstinence."

Haley said students in her district receive enough information about sex.

"Every year we are trying to increase what we do and bring more information to the students," she said. "But if we're the only place they're getting information, this community is not supporting us."

In the community

The moral issues raised by sex education make the topic something better suited to parents than teachers, some state and local school district officials said.

But Linda Brice, an assistant professor of nursing at Texas Tech's Health Sciences Center, said local educators are giving too much credit to parents and teens.

Brice co-founded Lubbock's Teen Straight Talk Program, an initiative supported by more than 40 local organizations that provides comprehensive sex education to parents and teens.

"Many churches are abstinence only and parents might not know where to start," Brice said. "When (teens) can't get the information from their schools, churches and parents, they get it from their friends."

Such a gap, Brice said, results in misconceptions and inaccuracies.

"It's kind of like passing a secret around. By the time it gets back to you, it's nothing like what you first said," she said.

She urged schools to be "as proactive as possible," acknowledging the abstinence-based curriculum and conservative community can make it difficult.

"Sexual activity is a natural part of life. Some teens might wait whereas others won't," Brice said. "Abstinence is very important to talk about, but at some point, whether it's now or in 10 years, they're not going to be abstinent and they need to know how to protect themselves."